More Articles

The Dispatch E-Edition

All current subscribers have full access to Digital D, which includes the E-Edition and
unlimited premium content on Dispatch.com, BuckeyeXtra.com, BlueJacketsXtra.com and
DispatchPolitics.com.
Subscribe
today!

From beer bottles to phone cases, things people use in everyday life might have had their start
in central Ohio.

Specifically, at Laser Reproductions in Gahanna.

The company, a rapid prototyping, manufacturing and product-development company, often serves as
the first step for companies looking to manufacture an item in large quantities.

It uses computer-guided lasers to make 3-D prototypes of products to give clients an
example of what their product is like before it is mass produced.

“Walk through a Walmart or through a toy store and look at every plastic product in that store,”
President Paul Bordner, 42, said. “Ask yourself, ‘How did it get to this store shelf?’ Potentially
every plastic product could be prototyped here.”

Laser Reproductions traces its roots to 1982, when Paul “Jerry” Bordner started Bordner &
Associates, a plastics and molding manufacturing firm. Bordner’s sons, Paul and Bret, worked for
the company, and as the story goes, Bret suggested to his father that the company enter the rapid
prototyping industry.

In 1993, Laser Reproductions was created to produce 3-D prototypes from computer designs.

In 2006, Paul Bordner became its president and Bret Bordner, 48, its vice president.

Most of the company’s business, which includes about 600 clients, comes from building prototypes
for automotive companies and large manufacturers. Two of its longest-running clients include
Columbus-based Battelle, a research institution, and Jeld-Wen, a company in Charlotte, N.C., that
manufactures building products such as windows and doors.

But entrepreneurs or small organizations also use the rapid prototyping to translate a sketch
into a physical product.

David Cooke is among them. He is the team leader for a group of Ohio State University students
building the Buckeye Bullet 3, an electric racing vehicle that intends to go faster than 400 mph.
The team is using Laser Reproductions to manufacture several battery packaging components for the
vehicle, set to compete in a race Thursday.

“The processes that Laser Reproductions can provide has completely changed the mindset of our
designers as they approach mock-up, initial testing and low-production parts,” Cooke said.

But most of Laser Reproductions’ employees probably aren’t aware of the end use of the products
they make. Paul Bordner said he and his roughly 40 employees don’t know what they’re building

90 percent of the time.

It all starts with a computer-assisted design file of a product. Then lasers build the
prototypes by solidifying liquid resin (“It’s the consistency of maple syrup,” Paul Bordner said),
layer by layer, 0.005 inch at a time. A model can take between two and 48 hours to build, depending
on size.

Laser Reproductions also does some design, tooling and manufacturing work as well as make
silicon-rubber molds from the prototypes.

In the middle of the process is Dave Evans, who deals with sales, management and the employees
in the workshops. He said the most-common issue that can occur is when designs need to be
tweaked.

“Sometimes the geometry of the piece can make it hard to mold,” he said.

Laser Reproductions will produce a prototype but isn’t in the business of assessing whether the
item is a bankable product.

It does, however, make entrepreneurs aware of the costs of its service, which can vary widely.
While a small prototype the size of a shot glass may cost a few hundred dollars to produce, larger
items can cost tens of thousands of dollars. The company produces more than 50,000 prototypes a
year, ranging from the animal-shaped lids that go on the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium cups to
car-engine covers.

Because of the cost of the work involved, individuals don’t often make their way to Laser
Reproductions.

“Sometimes they’ll hear the quote or realize how much work it’ll take, then they won’t do it,”
Paul Bordner said.

But one entrepreneur who has found success in working with Laser Reproductions is Kurtis Meyer,
of Worthington, who approached the company last year after an unsatisfactory experience trying to
order a prototype through an Internet service.

“You get attention to detail at Laser that you can’t get with online shops,” he said.

Meyer, 26, wanted to find a solution for bicyclists who struggle to choose between clipless bike
shoes or regular street shoes for rides, or to choose between clipless or platform pedals on their
bikes.

Meyer went from a paper cutout of his product to having Laser Reproductions manufacture a couple
thousand temporary, self-righting plastic frames that fit all common clipless pedal setups within
three months. He now sells his product in Northland Cycle and Fitness in Clintonville and
online.

For Ken Rinaldo, who heads the art and technology program of the Department of Art at Ohio State
University, Laser Reproductions has changed the way he looks at this own creations.

Rinaldo has used Laser Reproductions for various displays, including parts of robotic spiders
that interact with people and sculptures that compose music based on input from participant facial
images. He plans to use the company’s services more in the future.

As a sculptor, he said he can’t imagine how he’d do his work without first having a prototype
done to make sure the conceptual and technical aspects function together.

“Technology is one of the most-powerful tools of expression in the world today,” he said.